Georgia has the worst levels of corruption risk and
lack of accountability of any state in the country.
The state scored a D or worse in 12 of the 14
categories.

The state’s biggest problem is the absence of a
strong ethics enforcement agency. Republican
governor Sonny Perdue managed to get an ethics bill
through the legislature, but by the time it passed,
his proposals to ban gifts to state workers and
clearly define appropriate campaign spending had
been stripped out.

According to State Integrity reporter Jim Walls,
while Georgia has provisions to prevent certain
kinds of corruption in campaign finance and
lobbying, the state is full of unaddressed loopholes
and lax enforcement.

About 2,000 Georgia officials, including one in
five sitting legislators, have failed to
pay penalties for filing their disclosures late, or
not at all.

South Dakota, which has the second-highest
corruption risk score, has nine failing grades out
of 14 categories, and three Ds.

The state, which has among the lowest population
density in the country, does not have “comprehensive
state ethics laws,” an ethics commission or
satisfactory transparency laws, as Denise Ross
writes for the State Integrity Investigation.

The state does little to require public officials,
other than judges, to disclose their income and
assets.

State law features a loophole that makes it possible
for individuals to make unlimited political
donations.

The state has made major improvements in its
integrity by making many state records available
online in recent years

One of the state’s greatest offenses is
its exemption of its State Corporation Commission —
a regulatory agency that is responsible for
overseeing all businesses, utilities, financial
institutions and railroads in the state — from its
Freedom of Information Act.

While Virginia has a General Assembly Conflict of
Interests Act, the law has proven
incredibly inefficient. Only one legislator has ever
been prosecuted for violating it — 26 years ago.

The state is also weak on enforcing disclosure laws.
In 2004, it was discovered that former Democratic
Governor L. Douglas Wilder failed to file disclosure
reports for his gubernatorial election campaign.
Worst still, approximately $169,000 from his
campaign account was unaccounted for. Consequently,
L. Douglas Wilder, Jr., the former governor’s son
and one-time campaign treasurer, pleaded guilty to
two election law misdemeanors in 2007, resulting in
a $1,000 fine and a suspended one-year sentence.

Maine received F grades in nine of the 14 measured
categories, including legislative accountability,
lobbying disclosure and public access to
information.

The State Integrity Investigation identifies the
existence of possible conflicts of interest and
corruption. According to the report, there is no law
in place, for example, to force Democratic State
Senator Jim Brannigan to disclose that the
organization that he was a director of received $98
million in Maine government contracts.

On February 1, Republican State Representative
David Burns was arrested for violating campaign
finance laws such as falsifying records and misusing
funds.

South
Carolina received nine failing grades in areas
including executive, judicial and legislative
accountability.

State Integrity Investigation notes that the budget
of South Carolina’s State Ethics Commission has been
cut a total of six times in the past three years.

In September 2010, all regulations on limiting
contributions to political parties were
eliminated. Additionally, many contributors to
individual candidates abuse loopholes to avoid
limitations on donations.

There is also an antagonistic relationship between
office-holding politicians and the press.
Specifically, the report says, Governor Nikki
Haley’s administration has used a policy of deleting
important emails

North Dakota got an F in eight of the 14 categories,
including redistricting, ethics enforcement
agencies, lobbying disclosure and political
financing.

According to the report, these problems with
accountability can lead to conflicts of interest.
For example, there are no laws in place preventing
civil servants from entering any part of the private
sector after leaving office.

The state has had a Republican governor in place
since Ed Shafer took office in December, 1992.

With Republicans holding 75% of legislature seats
and philosophically opposing more regulation, as
State Integrity Investigation reporter Terry
Finneman explains, they tend to “protect the
machine.” Last year, they overwhelmingly voted
against a bill to create an ethics commission.

Michigan received a grade of F in 10 of the 14
categories measured, including accountability in all
three branches of government as well as in
redistricting, lobbying and political financing.

Michigan is one of just three states that still
lacks financial disclosure rules for lawmakers and
governors. According to Chris Andrews, author of the
State Integrity Investigation report on Michigan,
the state does not fall prey to much of the
widespread corruption that has been seen in Detroit.

The report’s findings indicate, however, that the
state has no system in place to monitor state
lobbying, which is among the most corrupt in the
country. This, according to Andrews, “has allowed
wealthy individuals and powerful PACs to funnel
huge amounts of money into campaigns.”

The state also has a “gift loophole” for lobbyists,
which allows gifts from interested parties to
elected officials like sports tickets or meals.

Thank you to ALL the wonderful individuals, friends,
organizations, groups, news services and websites who share or donate their research, work, time and
talents to make Native Village possibleIn accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is distributed
without profit or payment for non-profit research, archival, news, and
educational purposes only.
NATIVE VILLAGE website was created for youth, educators, families, and friends
who wish to celebrate the rich, diverse cultures of The Americas' First Peoples.
We offer readers two monthly publications: NATIVE VILLAGE Youth and Education
News and NATIVE VILLAGE Opportunities and Websites. Each issue shares
today's happenings in Indian country. NATIVE VILLAGE also houses website
libraries and informational materials to enrich all lives on Turtle Island.
Unless otherwise noted, articles are written in full by the credited author at
the credited source link. We are responsible for format changes and additional
photos, art, and graphics which boost visual appeal and add dimension to
the reading experience. Pictures and graphics not appearing with the original
article are either credited on the page or by right-clicking the picture. Some
may be free or by sources unknown.
Please contact us with any copyright
corrections so we may properly credit the source.
We are not responsible for changes to outside websites and weblinks. Please
notify us if any problems arise.